Pichers and Catchers, Oh My!

Pitchers and Catchers are reporting to their respective Spring Training camps this week.  The Cactus League camps are open in Arizona, and the Grapefruit League camps are open in Florida.

How great is that! 

Its real great!

I am one of those people who think there are two seasons to every year: Baseball Season and Waiting for Baseball Season.

I do follow College Football and College Basketball...Notre Dame is my team in each of those sports.  And I do follow College Baseball...Notre Dame again.

But Professional Baseball...now we're talking. 

For the next five weeks or so, the teams will be rounding into playing shape at practice sessions and practice games.  Pitchers, Catchers, and Position Players will drill over and over again all the plays that will need to become "routine" for them when April and Opening Day arrives.

The players and the finances of the game have changed a lot since I started following Major League Baseball back in the 1950s.  I miss the days when I could tell you the name of the team that just about every player belonged to...and of course, that was what needed to be changed (with Free Agency)...but it did seem comforting back then to know who all was coming back with what team each year.  I miss the fact that it did seem to be more of a "game" than a "business" back in those days...but it was inevitable that would change, too.

Ah, but the game.  The game hasn't changed all that much.  (Yeah, I know about the Designated Hitter...I actually like that change.)  Its still 60 feet 6 inches from the Pitching Rubber to Home Plate; its still 90 feet between all the bases; and 3 strikes still mean "Yer Out!"

And come the first week of April the Boys of Summer will head to the towns where their teams call home for the next 6 (or 7, if your team gets in the Postseason) months.

162 games...plenty of time to correct a losing streak...or make a run...or figure out how to win the close ones.

Bring on The Season.

Play Ball!

Go Yankees! 

Not Like the Others...

In the picture above, which window is not like the others?

How about the bottom right window?  I mean, it is the only window with the curtains equally opened to each side.  Ok, not that one.

Maybe the far left window in the center row?  It is the only window that is architecturally squared to the building, with the curtains fully closed.  Not that one?  OK.

Or, the upper left window?  It is the only upper left window.  HA!

Enough silliness...this is serious business.  Its the bottom left window that is not like the others, ain't it?  The one that is all whoppy-jawed.
The one that really catches your attention.
That makes you wanna say, "What the...?"
The one that makes the other eleven seem "blah."
Yeah, its that one.

"Excellence does not fit in with mediocrity."  Nice, huh?

"There is great power in our difference."  Good one.

"Be different or be forgotten."  Beats the you-know-what outta Go Along to Get Along, don't it?

"Stand up and stand out!"  The complete opposite of Shut Up and Sit Down...sweet.

And...as Harry Millner said..."All progress occurs because people dare to be different."  That be true, what Harry said: All Progress.  Occurs. Because. People Dare. To Be Different.

So blend in if you wanna...but its really OK to be not like the others when the time calls for it.  Really.

In fact, its when you are not like the others (in a good way, of course) that we remember you best.

One last one: "The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different."  (Peter Drucker)

Just a Little Rewrite of History...

All of us studied history at least a little in high school.  Maybe some of us went on the further that historical study in college.  I was one of those. 
I studied the history that was required for graduation from high school.  But when I got to college I signed up for a required history class and ran smack into a man who helped decide one of my two majors...his name was Dr. Fred Hill...and he made history so much fun to study and research that I settled in for as many courses as I could take and still manage the other courses required for a degree from a Liberal Arts College. 
A course in historiography made me aware...very aware...that history is written by the "winners."  Aware that if one wants to find out  about the "losers" one will have to dig much deeper than the popular printed material.  I was also to discover that all along the way of life there are folks who try really hard to rewrite history to fit their agendas, the prejudices, their defense of the status quo.

In recent memory the person I am aware of who has tried his damnedest to rewrite history to fit not only his agenda, but the agenda of the Far Right political and Christian agenda is David Barton.  If you want to do so, you can check out his clap-trap at wallbuilders.com.

But Barton is not alone.  More and more I see material and memes on the internet...especially on social media...trying to rewrite history to fit an agenda that is silly, bigoted, and dangerous.

And so. as Historiography teaches:

-Pay close attention to the methodology of those who write stuff called "history."

-Check the sources and the theoretical approaches of historians.

-Try to determine if the material you are reading is actually concerned to find the truth.

-Make sure the historian whose work you are reading uses primary sources as often as possible in researching the topic.

-Good history includes a study of the social evolution taking place at the time being researched and written about.

-History written as propaganda is bad history.

And while historiography doesn't teach this..."stuff" written by the David Bartons of this world is "stuff," not "history."